Blogs

Copyright

I firmly believe that our current copyright laws are too long and that folks would be much more inclined to respect copyright laws if the terms were shorter (and didn't have crazy Micky Mouse extensions!) It's nice to see that science agrees with me (even if congress doesn't!)

It's easy enough to find out how long copyrights last, but much harder to decide how long they should last—but that didn't stop Cambridge University PhD candidate Rufus Pollock from using economics formulas to answer the question. In a newly-released paper, Pollock pegs the "optimal level for copyright" at only 14 years.